Please Help! I vacuumed my betta!!

[Reygan2]

I was vacuuming my betta's 5 gallon and turned my head for a split second, next thing I know I saw him going into the siphon. I immediately poured him out, but now his beautiful long fins are ripped to shreds and he has a scratch on the top of his head. Knowing that clean water is essential, I continued to dip water out until I could change 50%. I refilled the tank and added melafix..I am completely panicking right now.

Please help me fix this. What are the best meds? Should I add some salt? Can he survive?

 

[absolutangel04]

His survival depends on if there any any internal damage or not.
I personally do not suggest any meds at all. His fins should heal just fine in clean water. Is he swimming ok?
Hopefully he will be ok.

 

[blert]

I hear melafix is not good for Bettas. Do only half doses. But you shouldn't need it. Keep his water clean and add a small bit of salt if you have nothing in there that salt will kill. I think just about everyone had vac'd up a fish before, don't feel to bad.

 

[Reygan2]

Great...I've already dosed the melafix. Should I change the water again?

He seems fine. Still protecting his bubble nest. He's even flaring at his reflection. He was stunned at first, but thats to be expected I guess. I'm going to do a pwc now.

 

[blert]

I'm going to do a pwc now.

Good idea. I can't rightly remember where I've read it, I think from MummaOfTwo (a member of these forums).

Keep the water as clean as possible and your fish should start to get better in no time at all. As I said, you can use aquarium salt to help with the healing, just add it gradually over the next few hours, and don't use it if you have inverts, and use half dose if you have live plants then do water changes to get it out as soon as the fish is healed or it probably will kill your plants.

 

[Reygan2]

Good idea. I can't rightly remember where I've read it, I think from MummaOfTwo (a member of these forums).

Keep the water as clean as possible and your fish should start to get better in no time at all. As I said, you can use aquarium salt to help with the healing, just add it gradually over the next few hours, and don't use it if you have inverts, and use half dose if you have live plants then do water changes to get it out as soon as the fish is healed or it probably will kill your plants.

I'm quite familiar with Mummaoftwo, she is really involved with helping people on this site.
Luckily I don't have anything else in the tank except an anubias (sp?), and I dosed a small amount of salt when I first got him months ago because he had a bump on his head. He turned out fine and so did the plant. I did another 60% pwc and dosed a little less than a teaspoon of salt. So far he is doing well, but in some areas his fin has ripped all the way to his body. I just hope they do heal, he was the most beautiful red betta I've ever seen. His fins were so long and healthy looking. I keep his tank clean, so I'm hoping he'll be fine.
Thank you for responding

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I'm quite familiar with Mummaoftwo, she is really involved with helping people on this site.
Luckily I don't have anything else in the tank except an anubias (sp?), and I dosed a small amount of salt when I first got him months ago because he had a bump on his head. He turned out fine and so did the plant. I did another 60% pwc and dosed a little less than a teaspoon of salt. So far he is doing well, but in some areas his fin has ripped all the way to his body. I just hope they do heal, he was the most beautiful red betta I've ever seen. His fins were so long and healthy looking. I keep his tank clean, so I'm hoping he'll be fine.
Thank you for responding

My ears are burning! Lol!
Sounds like a good plan. As already said keep his water clean and they should grow back to their former glory. I bought a Betta with about 50% of his fins missing 2 or so months ago and he is making a great recovery. Nearly completely grown back.

 

[absolutangel04]

Yeah, I have had bettas with ripped fins too and they always grew the fins back really well and I never use meds unless I absolutely have to.
Keep up posted.
The fact that he is swimming around protecting his nest is a really good sign though. That means the chances of internal damage are not too high.

 

[Fishnova]

Same thing happened to me, except I was new to the hobby and kept two platys, and my betta in a 1.5 gallon...fin rot and ich consumed my bettas beautiful fins to the point where he almost had none... :/

Now I give him plenty of clean water and high quality food. His fins are even better looking than before

All grown back.

 

[Reygan2]

Good news...he's eating and acting completely normal, still guarding his bubble nest. Here are some pics of the damage. I could just cry. My avatar is him after he'd been with me for a while. He was in a cup when I bought him. Since moving into his heated, filtered 5 gallon his health greatly improved as did his looks. He'll bounce back with some tlc.
Thanks for the support. The bubbles on the background are from the pwc's.

 

[Reygan2]

Same thing happened to me, except I was new to the hobby and kept two platys, and my betta in a 1.5 gallon...fin rot and ich consumed my bettas beautiful fins to the point where he almost had none... :/

Now I give him plenty of clean water and high quality food. His fins are even better looking than before

All grown back.

I'm glad he's still with you!

 

[absolutangel04]

He is looking pretty good. Those tears will heal. It will take some time, but with clean water fish really a good job of healing themselves.
Keep an eye out for any white edges developing on the fins that would indicate bacterial fin rot. As long as everything is red, its fine.
Its great to hear that he is so active. It sounds there wasn't any internal damage which is awesome!

 

[blert]

Nice looking fish! Glad to hear he is feeling better.

A little off-topic but just a thought... You might want to consider upgrading those plastic plants to silk ones (or, even better, live plants). Plastic plants and betta fins don't tend to get along very well. They don't feel very sharp to us but to a betta's feathery fins they can be like knives.

 

[Reygan2]

Nice looking fish! Glad to hear he is feeling better.

A little off-topic but just a thought... You might want to consider upgrading those plastic plants to silk ones (or, even better, live plants). Plastic plants and betta fins don't tend to get along very well. They don't feel very sharp to us but to a betta's feathery fins they can be like knives.

I totally agree. I just don't know if the cheap lighting in the tank would support it. Although, I've had the anubias that is attached to the dw since I bought the tank and it's doing fine...even blooming and growing.
Would any other plants thrive with the limited lighting that comes with the 5g starter kit from Walmart?

 

[jetajockey]

Java fern works pretty good as well.

 

[Reygan2]

Java fern works pretty good as well.

I'll give that a try...thanks.

 

[Reygan2]

Update: He is doing great. The scratch on his head is healing nicely. It was so close to his eye I wondered if it hurt it, but he is able to see his pellets on the surface of the water, so I'm thinking its ok. He is eating and acting totally normal, and I'm already seeing new growth on his fins.

I'm looking into ordering some live plants from liveaquaria.com. Their prices on low light plant packs are reasonable. Anyone have any experiences with them or their products?

 

[blert]

Update: He is doing great. The scratch on his head is healing nicely. It was so close to his eye I wondered if it hurt it, but he is able to see his pellets on the surface of the water, so I'm thinking its ok. He is eating and acting totally normal, and I'm already seeing new growth on his fins.

I'm looking into ordering some live plants from liveaquaria.com. Their prices on low light plant packs are reasonable. Anyone have any experiences with them or their products?

Excellent, glad to hear this.

You might get a better deal, and better plants, from members of this forum. Check the Classifieds and/or post a wanted thread for what you are looking for.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Glad to hear he's doing well!

 

[absolutangel04]

It's so good to know he is doing well! Put up a picture if you can.
I have never ordered anything from liveaquaria. I agree about checking here though because I have seen/bought a lot of things very reasonably.